Nicolai kept firing, but as he fired he retreated backwards.

  In its fury, the bird’s eyes were fixed only on him.

  He was floating above the tower when the bird came within range of his Soul Sense. It struck at him immediately, but Nicolai had prepared for this. His Soul Sense was as firm and perfect as possible, and it was just enough for him to resist that first strike. The second came right on its heels, and he knew his Soul Sense would be broken. But he’d bought enough time.

  The bird was there, screaming and furious, legs outstretched towards him.

  At this moment, some dull spark in its brain seemed to realise the wrongness of the situation.

  It was too late. The bird tried to arrest its descent with sudden, panicked wingbeats, but vines were erupting from the towertop, a mass of them boiling past Nicolai on either side with a savage rushing of air.

  It let out a scream of terror and pain as the vines grasped as its legs and wrapped its wings and body tight, then pulled back, and the bird was hauled down towards the towertop. It screamed and shook and beat its wings, but with every moment more vines wrapped it, digging into to its flesh.

  Nicolai dashed to the side, getting out of the way as the great beast was brought down, landing on the stone with a crash. From amongst the vines he saw two figures appear, and felt two new Soul Senses, revealed from hiding, dark and boiling with madness and bloodlust and furious glee.

  The Centipedes hit the bird from either side in twinned explosions of gore. They didn’t slow down, burrowing directly into it.

  Nicolai, having reached a safe distance, paused and turned to stare as the bird thrashed and blood sprayed, its eyes desperate, a relentless scream coming from its throat. Then the scream ceased as a bloody head came from within its throat and stretched its beak wide, the grinning face of Brother.

  The bird died, its feathers coming to rest while blood spread around it.

  After a brief moment of stillness, there came a strange and gruesome twisting within and around it, as its body was moved by the things that had burrowed inside its corpse.

  As Nicolai watched, his mouth half open, the bird slowly rose to its feet and the vines fell away. The dead thing began to beat its wings, slow and unsure at first, but gaining in speed and strength, the wind washing over the tower and stirring the vines.

  The bird rose from the stone, and he heard twinned screams of mad glee from where the Centipedes were visible, their heads poking out of its body. By some strange act of fate, the grotesque loop of red-and-white instestine on one of the Centipede's heads looked, from this distance, almost exactly like a santa hat. The puppeted corpse of the bird rose into the air, higher and higher, then it began to swoop about, and Nicolai could still make out the cries of the Centipedes.

  Nicolai wasn’t sure what he had expected, but it wasn’t this. How the fuck are they doing that? Were they using some kind of demonic power, or were they actually manipulating its body through pure, brute strength?

  He was actually starting to feel a little bad. The bird had been a worthy opponent, powerful and proud. He had enjoyed his battle with it. Escaping such an opponent had been very satisfying. Seeing its corpse used as a plaything by these creatures seemed to somehow sully the memory.

  But that is life. Many kings and great men have shit themselves to death. Nicolai wondered if he might be able to gain the bird’s Symbiotes. He’d seen no sign of them emerging when it died, which presumably meant the Centipedes had seized them. Could they be convinced to hand them over? Those Symbiotes were at least Tier 2, likely even Tier 3, and therefore beyond his ability to effectively use, but even so, he wanted them. He shook his head. Not going to happen. He was pushing his luck here already.

  A moment later, there came a crash and the rooftop shook, as the corpse of the bird landed atop it, a short distance from Nicolai. He had positioned himself by the edge of the roof, and was ready to dive off if necessary. He did not know whether they would honour the agreement, or immediately attack.

  He watched as the bird’s corpse collapsed onto the ground, and its body shook grotesquely, blood spraying, then the Centipedes emerged. They were coated tip-to-tail in blood and gore.

  ‘That looked very fun,’ called Nicolai, putting envy into his voice.

  ‘It was, it was,’ chittered Brother.

  ‘Indeed. We will fly more later. For now, the little mouse had earned itself a prize.’

  ‘Yes, a lovely prize.’

  They looked toward the centre of the roof, and the vines surrounding the Angel slithered and slipped bloodily off from it, until its face and much of its torn body was once more uncovered.

  ‘Have your minute,’ said Sister.

  ‘How long is a minute, Sister?’ asked Brother.

  ‘Begin counting, Brother, and I will tell you.’

  ‘One… two… three…’

  As the sound of slow counting began behind him, Nicolai stepped slowly in the direction of the Angel, and the vines. He wasn’t yet within reach of the vines. His path subtly curved, until he was moving more around the vines, than towards the Angel. Aiming for the edge of the roof.

  Nicolai did not intend to go in there. He didn’t trust these creatures. They didn’t seem all that bright, and he knew he’d made them very happy by giving them the bird, but so what? They were fundamentally untrustworthy by nature.

  Most likely they would let him talk to the Angel, then when he tried to leave the vines would grab him. If he was ever permitted to leave it would be minus several limbs at the minimum.

  He needn’t worry about that, because he’d been talking to the Angel for some time. When the Centipedes first lunged in ambush he had sent out a drone. It had begun a slow, cautious journey through the vines. Without the Centipedes controlling them, the vines hadn’t reacted to it.

  It’d parked by the Angel, and while he’d been watching the Centipedes fly, and then talking with them, a part of his mind along with Threat Analysis had been talking to the Angel.

  ‘Free me… kill me…’ the Angel had murmured, and through the drone he’d seen it had no eyes for both had been destroyed by the vines, golden blood covering its face.

  ‘I will, if you answer my questions,’ Nicolai had replied. ‘Tell me more about this True Demon that follows me, and its designs on my Soul.’

  The Angel had its head, a confused expression forming. ‘What’s this? I recognise the voice. The human. But I do not feel you…’

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  ‘I’m talking to you through a device, over distance. Answer the question.’

  ‘Yes, it follows you often, I could smell its stink on you.’

  Nicolai’s eyes had narrowed. ‘Prove it.’

  ‘Do you ever notice a strange chill in the air? At times of… trouble?’

  He’d struggled, then, as the Centipedes had been descending in the Bird’s corpse, not to show the sudden unease and shock he’d felt. ‘I have.’

  ‘That is the sign that it is near, that it is working on you. Right now, it is away. Gone to free the shred of the Unwinder, no doubt.’

  ‘What do you mean, working on me?’

  ‘You are cursed with the Black Gift, making you a connection from the Interior to the Material. You are a prize for beings such as the True Demon. It can take you, and wear you as a Skin. Most material beings do not make suitable hosts for such creatures, their forms mutate and decay rapidly. But your body would last for a long time, and it would be able to do what all Demons wish to do: whatever it wishes, in the Material. You have a Contract with it, do you not?’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘So it must be more circumspect, it cannot simply dive into you. It is working to Skin you through third means. I see its progress is going well. But if you can hold out long enough, until it frees its Master—something it has no choice but to do, though it will delay as long as it can—then you will be safe from it, as it will be forced to depart. At the current rate, I think you will last. But doubtless it will make a play.’

  ‘What can I do?’

  ‘Kill me and I will tell you.’

  ‘How are you going to tell me anything, when you’re dead?’

  ‘Destroying my physical form will release my immortal Soul. Before I depart, I will share with you what you need to know. Beyond that, the remnants of my form may aid you. At the moment of my death, the lifeblood of my heart will spill from my body. The blood spilled by a Denizen upon death can be useful to one in your condition in various way. It will remain in a pool at my feet for many months.’

  That was where Nicolai was currently up to in their discussion, as he walked slowly around the vines. He nodded to the Angel’s words. In Kleos’ story, the Beast had been changed by an Angel’s blood. But this thing called itself a Denizen, not an Angel.

  ‘Human, why do you tarry? You are wasting your precious minute,’ called out one of the Centipedes. He could hear the counting was over forty, now. He ignored them, asking his next question.

  ‘Are you an Angel?’

  ‘That is another name for my kind.’

  He let out a breath of relief, a smile forming. This was good, very, very good. ‘How can I kill you?’ He peered through the vines to where he saw its body torn open, the golden blood all over the place. ‘You seem quite resilient.’

  ‘Destroy my head and I’ll do the rest.’

  Nicolai’s Mark flickered, and he tapped it.

  Quest gained: Caged Butterfly

  A trapped Denizen wishes you to free their Soul, by destroying their body.

  His smile broadened. Double benefits.

  In the distance, he heard the counting reaching toward a terminal number. The Centipedes must be working out he’d played some trick. He needed to get going.

  ‘Fifty four… fifty five… fifty six…’

  ‘There is one more thing!’ hissed the Angel. ‘A gift. The Demon’s master lets out calls daily. These cries move through the Interior, and even the Aura. With your Black Gift, if you listen carefully and focus on your link to the Interior, you should be able to feel these calls. Recently, they come more and more often.’

  ‘Sixty…’

  ‘That is one minute, Brother.’

  ‘The little mouse did not approach the caged bird…’

  ‘I have a feeling it did not need to.’

  ‘These calls will pull the Demon away! For a time, you will be spared from its watchful gaze, and may—‘

  Vines swarmed the Denizen, and the drone was destroyed by them in the process. Then the vines were rustling over the roof toward him.

  But Nicolai was close to the edge, in readiness of this. He lunged into a run and threw himself off the tower. He turned as he jumped, gripping tight to his AA-12 and floating. The Angel swam into view, centred in the middle of his iron-sights, and he squeezed the trigger.

  The auto-shotgun boomed, a savage thumping. There came a flash around the Angel as a dull red shield shimmered into view, resisting the gunshots. But it quickly filled with cracks, and in a moment it was close to breaking. But already the vines were swarming the Angel in a great mass, wrapping it tight; this time not to constrain, but to protect. The shield broke, and the bullets blew chips and chunks of the spiked vines away, but were unable to penetrate the great mass.

  Nicolai’s AA-12 clicked empty a second later and he had his Pegasi ring direct him straight down. Gravity seized him along with the Pegasi ring’s effect. He plummeted, escaping just in time as vines poured over the edge of the roof, snapping and grasping at the air.

  ###

  The Centipedes watched as the human disappeared, the echo of its anger fading.

  ‘The little mouse tricked us, Sister,’ murmured Brother. ‘It crafted a mousy plot.’

  ‘It did indeed, Brother, it did indeed.’

  ‘We will remember this.’

  ‘We will.’

  ‘But at least we have the bird and its wings.’

  ‘We do.’

  ‘Should the little mouse come again, we will make its death mostly painless, in honour of what it did for us.’

  ‘We will.’

  Brother rattled with excitement. ‘Shall we fly?’

  Sister shivered with glee. ‘We shall.’

  At this moment, there came an odd darkening in the air, and the two Centipedes snapped suddenly alert. A being emerged, burning at the stone and the vines, surrounded by an aching cold.

  The Centipedes bent, and lay prostrate.

  ‘Father.’

  ‘Father.’

  Paxolnaz cast its frigid gaze around. The Demon had just regained its freedom from the Unwinder’s most recent call, and come to check on the human. But it had found a quite unwelcome surprise, after tracking the human here. It had arrived in time to see the human leap off the edge. This was a place where Paxolnaz did not wish for it to be.

  ‘My children. What has been occurring here?’

  ‘We met a little mouse. It tried to kill the Denizen,’ said Brother.

  Sister shifted, concerned. ‘But we are tireless in our role, and foiled its cunning plan. There is no cause for concern.’

  ‘And… this?’ Paxolnaz gazed at the corpse of the bird.

  The two Centipedes rattled and hissed, casting worried, protective gazes at the corpse.

  ‘A minor diversion.’

  ‘Minor. Of no importance.’

  ‘We mind our post.’

  ‘We do, we always do.’

  ‘You will not kill that human,’ said Paxolnaz. ‘It is important to me. But you must also not allow it to kill the Denizen, nor talk with the Denizen. Do you understand?’

  ‘We do, Father.’

  Paxolnaz couldn’t directly order them to harm the human, due to the Contract. But if they chose to inflict some pain of their own accord, then there was no issue.

  ‘So long as it leaves here alive, I do not care what else occurs to it.’ The True Demon’s cool gaze took in its two spawn and the Denizen trapped in the vines. It felt at their unease and guilt, and turned back to glower suspiciously at the pair. ‘Tell me, did it talk with the Denizen?’

  The pair did not answer, instead they wormed pathetically against the ground.

  ‘Did the human speak to the Denizen?’ boomed Paxolnaz, and its will rose and pressed down on the Centipedes, crushing them against the stone.

  ‘No Father, it was not seen to do so.’

  Paxolnaz gazed at them, smelling their deceit. Do you believe there is a chance that through some trick, the human talked with the Denizen?

  ‘We don’t know Father, we don’t! It asked to speak, but it didn’t appear to!’ cried the Centipedes.

  ‘Asked? And you allowed it?’

  ‘We agreed but only as bait, only for fun. We wouldn’t have truly allowed it to talk to the Denizen!’

  ‘But that is what has likely happened.’

  ‘We failed you, Father,’ they moaned and groaned. ‘It tricked us! It is crafty, crafty!’

  The bloody light of Paxolnaz’s regard sneered at them. ‘Fools. Did I not tell you the Denizen is not permitted to speak, not to anyone nor anything?’

  ‘You did Father, we are worms, worms! Please, spare us, Father, we will do better!’

  ‘You will do better,’ Paxolnaz hissed. ‘Should you fail me, you will suffer for an eternity. Have a taste of that suffering.’

  While the Centipedes screamed and cried, dark fire spilled from Paxolnaz like oil. It reached them in an instant and crawled over their bodies. They were lifted into the air, howling, and they shook and spasmed as red lightning crawled through the dark flame, reaching into them and flaying their Souls.

  ‘Do better next time,’ snapped Paxolnaz. It would have liked to do more but it simply didn’t have the time, nor the energy, and as the True Demon disappeared in an angry flare of dark fire, the Centipedes were allowed to fall.

  The Centipedes rose from where they had fallen, looking at one another, still flinching now and then as sparks of red lightning spat and crawled here and there over their chitin, gradually fading.

  ‘Father is upset with us,’ muttered Sister, sulky.

  ‘Of course,’ said Brother. ‘We were bad, very bad.’

  ‘But it was not our fault. It was the little mouse.’

  ‘That is right, it was the little mouse’s fault.’

  ‘Father says we can’t kill it.’

  ‘But he said nothing about eating its limbs.’

  ‘The little mouse looks like it has tasty limbs.’

  ‘It does, it does.’

  ‘Should it return, we will sample them.’

  ‘We will, we will.’